Alvis. Jack-of-all-trades

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Purchasing classics there

Alvis was an English sports car and truck brand. The brand was founded by Thomas George John in 1919 in Coventry. Initially, the company started as a machine factory, but the first passenger car was already built in 1920.

Alvis, like so many car manufacturers, supplied the rolling undercarriages. The bodies for those rolling Alvis chassis' were built by well-known coach builders, such as Cross & Ellis, Charlesworth, Vanden Plas, Mulliner, Park Ward and Graber.

The end time for Alvis

The Alvis Three Liter Series IV, TF21, an upgraded version of the 21 TE1963, was announced at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966 and remained in production until 1967. It was the last model Alvis Cars produced. The factory's limitations were already clear at the time. Externally, the car was the same as the TE21, but there were some changes to the suspension, and on the inside the instruments were more clearly arranged. For English mystical reasons, the TE21 to be redeemed remained available to order until 1967.

The 2993 cc engine, which was used for the first time in the 1950 TA21, had more muscle gains by getting three SU carburetors and delivered 150 horsepower at 4750 rpm, giving the car a top speed of thick 190 km / h. In the transmission area, there was a choice of an automatic or five-speed gearbox from ZF.

The chassis and suspension remained unchanged with coil springs at the front and leaf springs at the rear. The Alvis had disc brakes all around and an energized ball-loop steering system.

The end

The fire under the chips RECOVERY: fish and chips went out in Coventry. In August 1967 it was announced that production of the Al Ward 3 liter with Park Ward had stopped. The heart-conquering original Alvis TF21 Automatic Park Ward FHC, built in 1966. We found it in Zelhem at Sander Buitink. It is one of only 106 copies made.

Also nice

Alvis also did a lot in freight and military vehicles. The most unlikely phenomenon from that work is miles away from the beauty of the car in Zelhem. The Stalwart was a bulky, six-wheeled amphibious box with the unexpected tendency to sink so fast that the occupants could not escape through the skylight. The 'Stallie' also set new Olympic standards in terms of maintenance. The most interesting was the motorization of these mastodons.

Powered by Rolls-Royce

The Rolls-Royce petrol engine fitted had eight cylinders and a displacement of 6,5 liters. The power was 220 hp at 3.000 rpm. The fuel consumption was the dream of every Airmile saver at around 80 liters per 100 kilometers on the road. In the water, such a Stalwart was driven by water jets. With full fuel tanks, 455 liters, a distance of barely 500 kilometers could be covered. The engine and fuel tanks were under the loading area of ​​the vehicle. This location made engine maintenance difficult and the vehicle a fire hazard. In the northeast of the Netherlands, an acquaintance of ours still has about ten of them. Plus a set of new RR eight cylinders on sturdy pallets. He bought them on a whim years ago. Fortunately, they are not in the way.

But if you are still in the market for Rolls-Royce B-81 Mk.8B blocks, you can contact Theus. Because he prefers to sell his Stalwarts with Cummins V8 diesels. He also has a couple of them ...

Alvis

Alvis
The Alvis Stalwart

Stable warts in Groningen

A Yamaha XS 650 block of 1015 cc is worth the drive to East Groningen. Even if that part of the Netherlands is emotionally at the height of Leningrad. On a messy farmyard, a tall man in a dirty overall was busy pampering a huge old army vehicle with a giant grease gun. "It's a stable black" he said with an inimitable accent. “An amphibian. I still have six behind. They were cheap. "

“This has just been sold. Come on, I first have to take a test drive, then we talk further. ”The six-wheeled Stalwart turned out to be a kind of monkey rock to climb. Boarding was done by two roof hatches. There were unbelievably many meters, buttons and levers in the cockpit. "It weighs 9 tons and there is a Rolls-Royce eight-cylinder in-line engine of 6,5 liters." We left the yard and drove along the dike. “We are not going into the water. Because then you have to change all oil and check all lubrication points. Actually, I shouldn't have tried a test drive either. Things always break down. And they also do 1 on 1, "the Viking muttered.

Apparently these green giants in a unique British way combined extreme maintenance sensitivity and absolutely human-unfriendly user-friendliness with enormous unreliability and the tendency to sink without the possibility of escape. Back in the yard it was first time for a couple of sandwiches with cheese and mugs of warmed coffee. Then we would talk about Yamahab blocks.

But a tribesman came to the yard in a Dodge WD pickup and unintelligible things were arranged. Then another 6 man club of friends from Brabant came to watch another Stalwart. That conversation was interrupted because two young Polish ladies came to ask for directions in an older Gulf. The ladies apparently sat in the personal service corner and the attention of the club of friends shifted smoothly from rude and old to young and slender.

Finally there was time for the tuned Yamahablok. There was more old sidecar cross-stuff in the shed. My host dreamed away about the past and decided not to sell the stuff anyway. When I said that I had not traveled to the edge of the world for such a conclusion, the primal man looked at me understandingly. He saw a solution for the possible problem and was not looking for a hard confrontation.

“Okay, then I'll pay you gas and give you a bottle of drink. And you have driven a Stalwart. Good? "" Good! "This is how problems are solved. The drink was home-fired and was in a plastic one and a half liter Coke bottle. In the evening I had a visit myself. I poured and we toast all the unique Eastern people. "Hoppa!" Our gums curled up into our necks. The atomic water remained in a afterglowing puddle behind our navels. Breathing out panting in the direction of the candle on the table resulted in a flash fire. In our mouths we had the aftertaste of scorched gums, rocket fuel and a hint of gold reinettes. Drink makes more ... Well. Never mind.

 

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5 comments

  1. What an adventure. Again learned a lot, thanks!

    Incidentally, Alvis also made an aircraft engine, the Alvis Leonides nine-cylinder engine in the 500 hp class. This radial engine, fitted with ostentatious pushrods, was also housed in the Percival Provost (also British), possibly the ugliest aircraft (well, 'beautiful with ugliness' sounds more sympathetic) in which RAF cadets were ever taught the basics of military flying. Presumably the container with 'beauty' was exhausted after building so many Spitfires… ..

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